Carrier for pneumatic-tube system



J1me 5 E. J. von'As ETAL 3,

CARRIER FOR PNEUMATIC--TUBE SYSTEM Filed Dec. 2, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS: Db/4P0 J. V0/7fl5 LEW/S D. 0. TEARNE mqzm) June 6, 1967 E. J. VOITAS ETAL 3,323,?55

CARRIER FOR PNEUMATIC'TUBE SYSTEM Filed Dec. 2, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2v 4/ l I l 'r'l l 'l um ['76 8 I A INVENTORS: EDWARO J: vo/ms BY LEW/S D. 0. TEAENE United States Patent 3,323,755 CARRIER F013 PNEUMATIC-TUBE SYSTEM Edward Joseph Voitas, Uakland, and Lewis David Oxford Tearne, Montvale, N.J., assignors to International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, New York,

N.Y., a corporation of Maryland Filed Dec. 2, 1965, Ser. No. 511,186 2 Claims. (Cl. 24335) This invention relates to a carrier for transporting documents or other articles through a pneumatic-tube system.

In particular, this invention relates to a carrier which is especially adapted for use in pneumatic-tube systems of the type which are installed between the tellers windows of bank buildings and remotely located stations where customers of the bank may carry out transactions without leaving their automobiles.

Still more particularly, this invention relates to a carrier of the non-captive type which can be removed from the remote station by the bank customer and which can then be re-inserted into the pneumatic-tube system after the customer has placed in the carrier the bank book, deposit slip, and checks or whatever other papers may be involved in the banking transaction.

In the types of pneumatic-tube systems which are installed in office buildings for connecting various multiple stations with one another, it is often feasible to employ carriers which are relatively capacious in order to accommodate a reasonably large cargo of documents or other materials. Furthermore, in view of the use of automatic switching exchanges in the pneumatic-tube systems as installed in office buildings and other large buildings, it is often necessary to employ carriers which are equipped with metal contact plates for making contact with sensing devices in the automatic switching exchange. The use of carriers having such contact plates and having associated means for setting into the carrier an indication of the desired destination makes it necessary for acarrier of that type to be somewhat bulky and expensive. In pneumatictube systems in oflice buildings, the bulkiness and relatively high expense of the carriers can usually be tolerated because the advantages of automatic switching and of large capacity justify an investment in a relatively complicated carrier having the refinements and the capacity as above-described. Moreover, in office buildings, it is unlikely that the carriers will be stolen or otherwise carried away from the pneumatic-tube system.

In pneumatic-tube systems of the type which are designed to connect a tellers station of a bank with a remote drive-"1 customers station, on the other hand, the problems and the economics differ considerably from those which characterize a pneumatic-tube system installed in an office building. In the first place, in view of the fact that the carrier simply goes back and forth between the tellers station in the bank and the drive-in station where the customer stops in his automobile, it is not necessary to have the capability of automatic switching of carriers. Secondly, inasmuch as the documents which are involved in a simple bank transaction such as a deposit or withdrawal are ordinarily very light and compact, the capacity of a carrier for remote banking use need not be very great, and the carrier need not be as rugged as one which is designed to be able to survive the impacts which take place in pneumatic-tube systems installed in office buildings having many floors.

In remote banking applications, the requirements placed upon the carrier may be somewhat less stringent than those dictated by the demands of service in an oflice building. However, certain new requirements are imposed which do not apply to the systems in ofiice buildings. For instance, remote banking systems can be most economical if they are of the type in which the carrier can be re- Patented June 6, 1967 moved from the station in order to be filled or emptied by the customer or the teller. In a system where the carriers are removable from the station, there is always a possibility that a customer will drive away with a carrier either intentionally or absent-mindedly. Accordingly, it is necessary that carriers for this use be very economically constructed in order to minimize the loss in case of theft of the carriers. Another important requirement placed upon carriers for remote banking service is the requirement that there must be positive assurance that the carrier is completely closed before insertion thereof into the pneumatic-tube system. If a carrier closure were to open within the system, it is manifest that the contents of the carrier would probably be lost and would remain in the pneumatic tubes as obstacles to the passage of carriers through the system.

Accordingly, it is an object of our invention to provide a carrier for pneumatic-tube systems which is as simple and economical as possible while providing the necessary strength and capacity.

. It is another object of our invention to provide a carrier which not only is incapable of opening within the pneumatic-tube system but which is also incapable of being in sorted into the pneumatic-tube system until the carrier is completely closed.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a carrier in which the mechanism and the body of the carrier can be separated so that damage to either the mechanism or the body will not necessitate discarding the other.

Briefly, We have fulfilled these and other objects of our invention by providing a carrier having a hollow body which is formed of plastic or other material having a roughly cylindrical shape and having at each end a cover which is pivoted about a shaft so as to be rotatable about the shaft to open or close the end of the carrier. Positive action and locking are achieved by the use of a detent mechanism including a cam and saddle member which are concentric with the shaft on which the cover is mounted. This detent mechanism is spring-loaded so that the cover has only two stable positions, viz., either fully opened or completely closed.

For a complete understanding of our invention, reference should be made to the following detailed specification taken in conjunction with the attached drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a carrier in accordance with our invention, in which the cover is shown in the closed position;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one end of the carrier in accordance with our invention, in which the cover is shown in the open position and in which the location of the detent mechanism linking the cover to the carrier body can be easily seen;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the subassembly comprising the cover, the detent mechanism, and the mounting plate for securing the detent mechanism to the body of the carrier;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the shaft and head plate of the detent mechanism for retaining the cover in position;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of a collar member which is part of the detent mechanism, and showing the saddle configuration which characterizes one end of the collar member;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of the cam member of the detent mechanism;

FIGURE 7 is an end view of the cam which is illustrated in FIGURE 6; and

FIGURE 8 is a plan view of a retaining nut which holds together the detent mechanism.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, we see the generally cylindrical body 11 of the carrier according to the invention, having a cover 13 pivoted thereto at one end, and having another cover 15 pivoted thereto at the other end and exhibiting only its edge in the view of FIGURE 1. The carrier body may be made of plastic material such as polycarbonate, or of any other suitable material. Use of a transparent plastic such as polycarbonate makes it possible to mold the carrier body directly 111 its desired shape, and to achieve a carrier whose contents can easily be seen without opening the covers at either end. The carrier is provided with running rings 17 and 19 near the respective ends thereof. These running rings have an outer diameter which is just slightly smaller than the. inner diameter of the tubes of the pneumatictube system, thereby preventing the leakage of much of the driving air past the outer surface of the carrier. We prefer to use running rings which are composed of polytetrafluoroethylene, which is a material that provides some lubrication for easy passage of the carrier through the tubes of the pneumatic-tube system. In view of the fact that polytetrafluoroethylene has a flow point which occurs at a temperature lower than that of polycarbonate, it is possible to mold the running rings directly around the body 11 of the carrier after the body 11 has itself been molded at a higher temperature.

Inasmuch as the carrier according to our invention is designed to be easily removable from the customers station and the tellers station of the pneumatic-tube system, we prefer a configuration of carrier body in which the central portion of the carrier is reduced in diameter to a diameter somewhat less than that of the cover and running rings, thereby making it easy to grip the'carrier. We also favor the use of a pair of finger wells such as that which is indicated by the reference numeral 21 in FIGURE 1. We also prefer to mold into the outer surface of the carrier body a series of longitudinal ribs 23 which extend outward from the carrier body and which protect the major portion of the surface of the carrier body from being scratched in transit or in the hands of the customer. Ribs 23 also facilitate the handling of the carrier by making it easy for the customer and the teller to grasp the carrier.

The cover 13 at one end of the carrier, like its mate 15 at the other end of the carrier, is retained in position by a shaft 25 and head plate 27 as illustrated in FIG- URES 1 and 4. Reference to FIGURE 4 shows that head plate 27 is aflixed firmly to cover 13 by means of studs or screws such as those indicated by the reference numerals 29 and 31. Shaft 25 extends normal to the plane of cover 13 in a direction toward the interior of the carrier. Encircling shaft 25 and bearing against the inner surface of cover 13 is a collar member 33 having at the end thereof remote from cover 13 a saddle-shaped termination 35. Collar 33 may also have formed therein a groove 37 which serves to accommodate a locking pin to which reference will later be made.

Bearing against saddle-shaped termination 35 of collar member 33, and encircling shaft 25, is a cam 39 as illustrated in FIGURE 6. The configuration of the cam surface, which bears against the saddle-shaped termination 35 of collar 33, resembles the shape of the roof of a house in that it has a ridge which is flanked by sloping bearing surfaces. While it would be possible to make collar 33 and cam 39 from any suitable material, we prefer to employ heat-treated steel for this purpose in order to have the benefit of hardened wear-resistant bearing surfaces. Cam 39 has a hole formed therethrough, said hole having a shape which is partly cylindrical but which has a flat land portion 41 that gives the cross section of the hole a chord in place of part of the circle of the cylinder. Shaft 25 has, near the end thereof remote from head plate 27, a flattened portion 43 as shown in FIGURE 4. The co-action between flattened portion 43 of shaft 25 and the flat land 41 within cam 39 allows cam 39 to slide upon shaft 25 in an axial direction but prevents the cam from rotating about shaft 25.

Cam 39 is held on shaft 25 by means of a coil spring 45 which is best illustrated in the subassembly view of FIGURE 3. Coil spring 45 encircles shaft 25 near its end and is retained in position by a retaining nut 47 as illustrated in FIGURE 8. Retaining nut 47 is screwed or affixed onto shaft 25 so that spring 45 is in a state of compression and tends to force cam 39 against saddleshaped termination 35 of collar 33. When cam 39 is thus forced into the saddle-shaped termination 35 of collar 33, cam 39 tends to rotate until the orientation of its ridge is aligned with the orientation of the depression in the saddle-shaped termination 35. When cam 39 rotates into this position, the co-action between flat land 41 of cam 39 and flattened portion 43 of shaft 25 constrains shaft 25 to rotate with cam 39, rotating cover 13 along with shaft 25 by virtue of the rigid attachment between cover 13, head plate 27, and shaft 25. Cover 13 is mounted on shaft 25 in such a way that the aforementioned action of the cam brings cover 13 into positions in which it either completely closes the mouth of body 11 of the carrier or substantially completely uncovers the mouth of the carrier body. It is clear that the cover has only these two stable positions because the cam has only two stable positions of orientation with respect to the saddle-shaped termination 35 of collar 33. Thus, when the cover is open, it will tend to remain fully open. On the other hand, when the cover is closed or nearly closed, the force of spring 45 tends to retain the cover in a position which is completely closed. Hence, the carrier cannot be placed in the pneumatic-tube system unless the cover is and remains closed. p

The detent mechanism, which has just been described, is attached to the body 11 of the carrier by means of a mounting plate 49 which is best shown in FIGURE 3 of the drawings. Mounting plate 49 may have a cross section which is somewhat arcuate, corresponding to the curvature of the inner surface of body 11 of the carrier. Collar 33 of the detent mechanism is fastened rigidly to mounting plate 49 by means of welding or other suitably rugged means of attachment. Mounting plate 49, together with the entire detent mechanism, may be inserted into a cavity between outer wall 51 of the carrier body and an inner wall 53 which is formed within a portion of the outer wall. We prefer to mold inner wall 53 in the same operation which produces the shape of the entire carrier body 11. Thus, inner wall 53 is integral with the carrier body and forms therewith a cavity having just the right size to accommodate therewithin mounting plate 49 and the detent mechanism, which is rigidly attached to mounting plate 49.

If, for some reason, it should not be desired to mold inner wall 53 along with body 11 of the carrier, it would clearly be possible to form inner wall 53 separately and to fasten it securely to the inner surface of the carrier body. Mounting plate 49 and the detent mechanism may be retained in position in the cavity between outer wall 51 and inner wall 53 of the carrier body by means of a locking pin 55 which extends through a pair of holes in outer wall 51 of the carrier body and which slides past the reduced portion of collar 33 which constitutes groove 37. Thus, the bifurcate ends of locking pin 55 embrace collar 33 in groove 37 and prevent cam 33 and the detent mechanism from moving in a direction parallel to shaft 25.

If, for some reason,it is desired to remove mounting plate 49 and the detent mechanism from the cavity between outer wall 51 and inner wall 53 of the carrier body, locking pin 55 may be removed from its position within groove 37 of collar 33, thereby releasing collar 33 for axial motion and permitting the detent mechanism to be separated from the carrier body. Such removal would be advantageous in the event of damage either to the cover or to the body of the carrier.

In order to maintain in coil spring 45 a degree of compression which is just suflicient to assure that the cover will be urged toward either of its two stable positions, it is clear that the setting of retaining nut 47 should be such as to cause spring 45 to exert sufiicient force tending to urge cam 39 into the saddle-shaped termination 35 of collar 33. We have found that a suitable spring for this purpose may be formed of cadmium-plated steel piano wire of .032" diameter. We have found that this wire may be formed into a helical spring having an outer diameter of .360" and having a non-compressed length of This configuration gives the spring a rate of approximately 12 pounds per inch.

In addition to the spring-loaded detent mechanism which has been described in the paragraphs above, we took an additional precaution in order to prevent the undesired opening of the carrier cover or leakage of the contents of the carrier out of the carrier at the edge of the cover. We provided a lip 57 which is present around approximately one-half the circumference of the end of the carrier body 11 and which is formed integrally with the material of the carrier body. Lip 57 overlaps the edge of cover 13 in its closed position as best shown in FIGURE 1 of the drawings, thereby sealing approximately one-half of such circumference against leakage. The remaining half of the circumference of the juncture between cover 13 and carrier body 11 is protected against leakage by means of an overhang 59 which seals about half the circumference of the closure. When the cover is in the closed position, the overhang 59 bears against the outer surface of the end of the carrier body and assists in maintaining reasonably tight contact at that point between the cover and the carrier body.

When cover 13 is to be rotated from its closed position into its open position, such rotation can be achieved by the operator by pressing his thumb against the wall 61 of a thumb hole in the outer surface of the cover. For reasons of appearance, a raised portion 65 may be formed on the outer surface of the cover so that the thumb hole 63 and raised portion 65 together comprise an elliptical shape which is pleasing in its appearance. When the cover of the carrier is to be returned to its closed position, the cover may be easily rotated by pressing against the edge of the cover in a direction such as to return it to its closed position.

It has been mentioned a cover 13 is located at one end of the carrier, while a similar cover 15 is located at the other end of the carrier. Of course, a similar detent mechanism is provided for securing cover 15. It has been found desirable to use this configuration of carrier which can be opened at either end in order that the customer need not maneuver the carrier in order to bring one end of the carrier into a suitable position to open it. We prefer to orient the shaft 25, associated with cover 13, at a point 180 away from the position of the corresponding shaft which is associated with cover 15. Thus, the weights of the respective detent mechanisms at the two ends of the carriers will offset each other and will not upset the static balance of the carrier.

It will be understood that, although we prefer to use plastic material such as polycarbonate for the carrier body and for the covers thereof, it is perfectly possible to use some other suitable material for these purposes. For instance, the covers 13 and 15 might very well be made of steel, thereby increasing the strength thereof, perhaps at the expense of some additional weight.

While we have chosen a single embodiment of our invention for the purposes of illustration, it will be understood that many variations may be made in the carrier according to our invention without departing from the inventive principles. Accordingly, the scope of our invention is to be limited only by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A carrier for a pneumatic-tube system, said carrier comprising a hollow body having an opening in at least one end thereof, a cover for said opening, and pivot means for moving said cover between the open position and the closed position with respect to said opening in said carrier body, said pivot means including a shaft and a pair of contoured members associated with said shaft, a first one of said contoured members being coupled to said cover, and a second one of said contoured members being coupled to said carrier body, said first one of said contoured members being a cam penetrated by said shaft and having a ridged bearing surface, and said second one of said contoured members being also penetrated by said shaft and presenting a saddle-shaped bearing surface to said cam, and resilient means for urging said first and second contoured members together and tending to orient said first and said second contoured members in either one of two stable positions with respect to each other, a first one of said stable positions being associated with said open position of said cover, and a second one of said stable positions being associated with said closed position of said cover.

2. A carrier in accordance with claim 1 in which said carrier body has a recess formed adjacent the inner surface of the wall thereof, and in which said second one of said contoured members is fastened rigidly to a plate which fits snugly into said recess.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 588,045 8/1897 Anderson 222557 X 1,505,542 8/1924 Canton 24335 1,745,786 2/1930 Drenkard 24335 X 1,807,834 6/1931 Erby 24335 1,910,033 5/1933 Mincovsky 220-38 X 2,965,142 12/1960 Rusho 222557 X FOREIGN PATENTS 610,059 8/1926 France.

261,249 8/ 1949 Switzerland.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CARRIER FOR A PNEUMATIC-TUBE SYSTEM, SAID CARRIER COMPRISING A HOLLOW BODY HAVING AN OPENING IN AT LEAST ONE END THEREOF, A COVER FOR SAID OPENING, AND PIVOT MEANS FOR MOVING SAID COVER BETWEEN THE OPEN POSITION AND THE CLOSED POSITION WITH RESPECT TO SAID OPENING IN SAID CARRIER BODY, SAID PIVOT MEANS INCLUDING A SHAFT AND A PAIR OF CONTOURED MEMBERS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID SHAFT, A FIRST ONE OF SAID CONTOURED MEMBERS BEING COUPLED TO SAID COVER, AND A SECOND ONE OF SAID CONTOURED MEMBERS BEING COUPLED TO SAID CARRIER BODY, SAID FIRST ONE OF SAID CONTOURED MEMBERS BEING A CAM PENETRATED BY SAID SHAFT AND HAVING A RIDGED BEARING SURFACE, AND SAID SECOND ONE OF SAID CONTOURED MEMBERS BEING ALSO PENETRATED BY SAID SHAFT AND PRESENTING A SADDLE-SHAPED BEARING SURFACE TO SAID CAM, AND RESILIENT MEANS FOR URGING SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONTOURED MEMBERS TOGETHER AND TENDING TO ORIENT SAID FIRST AND SAID SECOND CONTOURED MEMBERS IN EITHER ONE OF TWO STABLE POSITIONS WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER, A FIRST ONE OF SAID STABLE POSITIONS BEING ASSOCIATED WITH SAID OPEN POSITION OF SAID COVER, AND A SECOND ONE OF SAID STABLE POSITIONS BEING ASSOCIATED WITH SAID CLOSED POSITION OF SAID COVER. 